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When I first heard of the term Viral Marketing I thought
immediately of a virus. No, not the flu, a computer virus. I
avoided viral marketing like the plaque. I?m sure many of you
are doing the same thing. Every email labeled viral marketing
got trashed and I immediately run an anti virus check on my
computer.
I actually took me long time and the convincing words of a dear
friend of mine to change my attitude towards viral marketing.
Call it ignorance, but I just didn?t have the confidence in
something that sounds like it wants to harm me.
Today my whole world changed and now I?m an active advocate to
promote viral marketing. The concept is not new and it was
created by the brightest minds in the business.
Viral marketing capitalizes in the sharing habits of the human
beings. It?s quite extraordinary. We all tent to share with
friends and family the bargains or freebies we were able to get.
If we can copy the freebie we will do it and give it to our
friends and family. Take the music industry as an example.
Ok, we established that viral marketing is giving out free stuff
and that this free stuff will be passed around. So how do you
capitalize on something everybody expects to get for free? You
don?t. You just use the freebie as an advertising vehicle.
See, once you started giving out software or a book for free, it
will snowball from there. Granted that the software is any good
and the book provides some value. There is no telling on how
many copies of your software or book will float through the
internet. The only thing you now for sure, it takes some time to
gain momentum.
Take Hotmail as an example. Hotmail build its empire solely on
viral marketing. Every email you send had a little line at the
end advertising free email from Hotmail. That?s it. No expensive
marketing strategy, no TV ads, nothing but a little advertising
line at the end of every email. It took years of building
momentum, but today Hotmail is a giant pulling in billions of
dollars every year.
I?m not expecting to repeat Hotmail?s success with my little
viral marketing project, but I?m convinced that sooner or later
the profits will come. It is simply a matter of time. All you
need is a good product that you control and be able to give out
for free. Make sure that you will be able to place your
advertising on the front page of the product.
You can advertise your newsletter, your web site, products
you?re selling, anything you will make a profit if somebody
clicks through the advertising on the freebie. I spare you with
the details why the same ad advertised through viral marketing
is so much more effective than regular advertising.
Just one thought. Would you click on a single ad embedded in a
software or book send to you by a friend you trust? Of course
you would. There is nothing suspicious about this. It?s your
friend who recommended this in the first place. On the other
hand nobody actually clicks on advertising popping up on strange
web sites you never heard of before.
Now you see why I like viral marketing so much. Quite frankly I
believe in the future it is the only marketing that works. SPAM
filters and popup blockers already make it almost impossible to
get through to our prospects and it will not get any better.
Prepare your self for the future and implement viral marketing
today. You will be glad you did.
Sincerely, Peter Dobler Copyright ? 2005
About the author:
Peter Dobler is an active real estate investor and a successful
internet entrepreneur. See viral marketing in action at
href="http://www.peterdobler.com">http://www.peterdobler.com
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